


Ground Control

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Captain America (Movies), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Feels, Die mad about it, M/M, Minor Steve/ Bucky also, Pepper is an even Gooder Bro, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Stephen Strange is Asian, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony is bitter also, Wong is a good bro, and bucky is a confused chicken, sort of sad ending but also not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 21:08:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14962194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Stephen lets out another sigh, “come on, back in position,” he says, turning and walking to the center of the courtyard. The cloak detaches itself from Tony's shoulders and flutters after Stephen, positioning itself back in place as he goes.“Can’t we do literally anything else?” Tony asks. “Seriously, I’d rather watch paint dry.” He'd rather do most anything than magic if he's honest.“Would you rather rehome the Avengers?” Wong asks.





	Ground Control

**Author's Note:**

> So I got this prompt like 500 years ago and finally got the muse to write that bitch up. So here this is, it diverges from the prompt a bit, but the idea is all still there. I wrote this baby in a flurry, but hopefully its alright!
> 
> Prompt: Could you do one post TWS? Steve is already dating Tony, but dumps him as soon as Bucky is found, wanting to get back with his first love. Tony is devastated of course, but Steve is initially too happy to care. But his relationship with Bucky becomes more and more difficult to handle since Bucky is still an awful mess due to Hydra’s torture and Steve is too insistent on getting the old Bucky back and ignoring the trauma. 
> 
> They try to adopt a child like Steve always wanted, but are denied due to Bucky’s instability. Steve slowly becomes dissatisfied and misses the easy and comfortable relationship he had with Tony. He is thinking of approaching Tony once more when he hears the news that Tony has got married (to Strange/Quill/T'Challa), and has adopted a baby boy. Ending with unhappy Steve realizing that Tony does not need him at all, and has fulfilled all his dreams without Steve.
> 
> So there's the premise of the story not listed in the summary lol.

On principal Tony sucks at magic, but at least Stephen looks attractive with his spells and all that even if the cloak has to step in and save his ass when he almost gets blasted through a wall. Stephen sighs and drops his fighting stance, “its not possible for a human being to be this bad at magic- I have a ninety year old woman who keeps mistaking me for her grandson who’s a better student than you,” he says, shaking his head.

He’s come to learn that criticism is Stephen’s weird and also irritating way of showing love. “I told you, I hate magic and it hates me back. But I can do those shield things now!” he says excitedly, moving his hands the right way to get the desired results but one of the stupid things flickers out after two seconds. “Okay rude, I had this mastered this morning.”

Stephen lets out another sigh, “come on, back in position,” he says, turning and walking to the center of the courtyard. The cloak detaches itself from his shoulders and flutters after Stephen, positioning itself back in place as he goes.

“Can’t we do literally anything else?” Tony asks. “Seriously, I’d rather watch paint dry.”

“Would you rather rehome the Avengers?” Wong asks, walking out with a bowl of ice cream that makes Tony jealous. Stephen gives Wong a dirty look and Tony clues in probably too late.

“Stephen, they need me there to get in. What did you intend to do, fail to teach me magic all day so the Avengers all had to wait outside the compound? Because FRIDAY would probably take pity on them eventually and let them in,” he points out. The AI would probably contact him first but still.

“They’ve earned more than that,” Stephen mumbles, unimpressed. Tony sighs as he walks off- typical. Its not like Tony is exactly _fond_ of the Avengers but every troll has their use and he knows something is brewing so yeah, he gave them back space in the compound and told Steve to deal with Ross. Mostly that’s because Tony doesn’t want the headache but also he figures Steve can take responsibility for his own actions- Tony has already dealt with his part of things. Hence finding himself in Nepal and running into Stephen of all people.

“He’s so moody, how do you deal with that?” Wong asks, shaking his head as he looks after Stephen.

“Sex, mostly,” Tony says honestly.

Wong frowns, “does it work?”

“No, but it means I don’t have to deal with it for awhile and that’s the goal,” he says. Especially with things they disagree on- Steve and the Avengers being the main point of contention. Stephen is under the not entirely false impression that the way Steve treated Tony was awful and he doesn’t much have faith in the rest of the Avengers that took Steve’s side. Tony, however, has recently decided sides are stupid and childish and yeah, Steve basically immediately ditching him for Bucky and neglecting to tell him about his parents is unforgivable and nasty but there are more important things to worry about. Like aliens. So yeah, Tony will deal with the Avengers for now and if there’s an opportunity to throw Steve at an alien so he can take one for the earth well, he’ll probably take his shot then.

Stephen thinks that’s too forgiving but Stephen is pretty vengeful for a pacifist. His ideas of revenge involve infinite time loops of memories Steve would probably rather forget rather than letting Steve die a hero but Tony isn’t about to indulge Stephen’s darker nature. Shit, _Stephen_ shouldn’t let Stephen indulge his darker nature. Guy might do his best to avoid murder but apparently inflicting irreparable harm is totally cool with the Hippocratic Oath or whatever. Thankfully Wong took Tony’s side on that argument.

“So,” Wong says after a moment. “How exactly is this going to go down?”

*

If Tony hadn’t prepped himself with YouTube videos of their love he probably would have thrown up on Steve and Bucky on the spot. But he had so their lovey shit was slightly easier to stomach _especially_ when Steve asked if it was fine. Yeah, sure, practically try and crawl inside your first love while your left-in-the-literal-cold love that you threw away watches. Totally one hundred and fifty percent fine. Bucky _only_ murdered Tony’s parents and Tony _only_ has to live with the knowledge that he’s one dick removed from fucking the guy himself, and he _only_ has to know Steve kissed him with the same mouth he used to conveniently lie to him while riding his ass about keeping secrets. Totally cool.

That’s about when Stephen steps in and Tony gets distracted by Wanda and _Vision_ of all things. Guess he should have seen that coming but still, it throws him for a half a second before he tunes back in to Stephen chewing Steve’s ass and remembers his vengeful time loops. “Just leave it,” Tony tells Stephen, shocking him enough that his tirade stops for a moment.

“Excuse me?” he asks, eyebrows at his hairline.

“Do you really want me to repeat myself?” he asks in a warning tone that has Stephen backing down immediately. He gives Steve one last poisonous glare before he walks off and Tony sighs. “I’m not sorry for anything he said to you. I don’t know what he said but you probably deserved it so yeah, make yourself at home, preferably the hell away from me.”

He walks off then too, Wong on his heels. “I’m so getting you to use that tone when Stephen tries to steal the ice cream again,” he says and Tony laughs.

“Seriously?”

“Yes- he’s always stealing the ice cream I like best and I know he does it on purpose.” Tony shakes his head because he doesn’t; it just happens that he and Wong have identical taste in ice cream flavors. When they round the corner they find an irritating Stephen pacing and Tony braces himself for the upcoming lecture.

“I have no idea why you’re doing this. Why is it always up to you to save the save the world?” he asks, waving an arm around.

Tony rolls his eyes, “first- at least you’re predictable. Second- stupid criticism if I can say the same for you. Look, I might not like it but its not like I live here. If I really wanted to be a dick I’d make them pay rent.” He thought about it but eventually decided against it because it felt petty to him. He figures that not living in the same space or really having anything to do with the Avengers at all shows where he stands perfectly without going overboard.

“Well you should- it’s _your_ space, and you build all their weapons and suits!” Stephen says, arm flailing around angrily again.

“Actually I think Shuri might have taken over. She’s done some impressive work,” he adds. Some of it was over his head too and he suspects there’s a lot more he hasn’t seen that would go _way_ over his head. Which, good, let the smarter person with the vibranium do everything he did before. First- less work for him. Second- someone needs to show Shuri a color palate because Steve’s new suit looks fucking _drab_ and what even _is_ that star? Unless she intentionally designed it to look bad because Bucky’s arm is cool and Tony is genuinely wondering now.

“Tony, you don’t owe these people anything,” Stephen says softly, like he’s trying to plead with him and that’s sweet. Stephen doesn’t do pleading.

And Tony doesn’t exactly disagree with his words either, but that’s not why he’s doing this. “Yeah, I know that. I don’t give a shit about them, it’s the world I care about and I actually owe people a lot.” Nothing that he’d ever make up for, of course, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try.

“You don’t owe them anything either, Tony,” Stephen says softly but he’s wrong. The only reason he thinks the way he does is because he’s biased towards Tony. So he’ll house the Avengers even if he’d rather not and he won’t make them pay rent and he’ll live elsewhere to avoid any and all contact with the Avengers for his own sanity. Especially Bucky.

*

In his efforts to avoid the hell out of the Avengers it becomes kind of ironic that Tony manages to run into Bucky on his way back to the sanctum with ice cream. Damn Wong and Stephen are bickering again and Tony has better things to do than listen to them whine that they don’t have their preferred flavors around. “Hey,” Bucky says to him and Tony pretends not to hear him, walking faster. “Tony I know you heard me, can we talk?” he asks.

It takes everything in Tony’s power not to turn around and tell Bucky in no uncertain terms where he can shove his talk but he calms himself in time. “What do you want?” he asks in a tone that comes out far sharper than he meant for it to be.

Bucky hesitates and for a half a second Tony feels bad but frankly the guy murdered his mother, why should he get pity? At least beyond the HYDRA stuff anyways. Everything that happened after that is at least partially on him and frankly Tony could have done without a solid reminder that he’d never be Bucky and certainly that he’d never live up to him. Okay so maybe his Bucky hang-ups are more him than Bucky but still, doesn’t mean he needs to be nice to the guy.

“I… I’m sorry about your parents. I wish I could take that back, really,” he says softly.

No fucking shit. Tony rolls his eyes, “yeah, I kind of figured you’d take back the whole being kidnapped by HYDRA and turned into a living weapon thing- literally anyone would want that. Thanks for the apology I guess,” he mumbles, trying to keep his anger mostly not directed at Bucky. He’s doing a bad job of it and he knows it but still.

Bucky looks away, obviously nervous, before he looks back to Tony again. “I… can I talk to you? About Steve?” he asks and Tony rolls his eyes before he can stop himself.

“What the hell do you think I have to offer to you? We had a six year long relationship in which I played second fiddle to a dead man who turned out not to be dead and also killed my parents, which Steve kept to himself. I don’t know what you want to talk about but I do know I have no useful insight so bye. My ice cream is melting.” And the only thing more annoying than two wizards whining about a lack of ice cream is whining about ice cream that’s melted.

When he gets back to the sanctum its melted anyways but Wong and Stephen only exchange a half a glace before Stephen uses the mind stone on it to return it to freezing. Tony shakes his head, wondering what other trivial situations Stephen has used that stone in.

*

Bucky mostly tries to avoid Steve because nothing about him is familiar. Sure he remembers everything, including things he would very much like to forget, but Steve is totally foreign to him. Hell, Bucky is foreign to himself and Steve can feel it too. He tries, or Bucky thinks he does, to help him but help looks an awful lot like trying to make him into the guy he used to be. Steve clings hard to the past and Bucky had been hoping that Tony could maybe tell him if Steve did the same with him but he was blown off fast.

He can’t say he blames Tony really. He killed the man’s parents and unintentionally ruined his relationship and that’s just another thing in a long list of things about Steve that makes him uncomfortable. Since when would Steve ever do something like that? And lying to Tony about his parent’s deaths? That doesn’t sound like the Steve he knows at all and it makes him uncomfortable to think that Steve would do any of that for him, as per his own admission. Granted he’s since admitted that not telling Tony about his parents was selfish of him but Steve, the one Bucky knew, would have never even considered doing something like that. He’s tried to talk to Steve, figure out what’s wrong but Steve insists that he’s fine even though there is obviously a lot going on with him. Whenever Bucky gets close though Steve pushes him away and its starting to grate his nerves more than usual.

He’s got his own problems, he can’t continue to try and figure Steve’s out. Its harsh but its true. Things have been exhausting lately, more than usual, and he’s reaching a breaking point. He had hopes for talking to Tony but he isn’t going to try that twice- the man deserves peace and obviously has his own problems. Like a lot of them if their short lived conversation is any indication. But it does leave him stuck, unsure of what to do in his own damn life and it has him feeling claustrophobic. He’s been stuck in positions he didn’t want to be in before. He will not find himself there ever again.

*

Tony is trying his best to enjoy the warm, balmy night air when Steven and Wong interrupt his quiet time like a couple of rude children. “Tell Stephen that money is a connection to the material and therefore useless,” Wong says.

Stephen squints, “he owns a multibillion dollar company, as if he’s going to agree with that,” he says.

He sighs, “Wong, Stephen is right. And also how the hell do you live in this society with no money? Also Pepper owns the company, legally speaking. I’m just the head of R&D.” His name and reputation is still on the company of course, for better or worse, but its Pepper’s now. She’s done a great job with it too even with some of the blowback she received. She runs things way differently than he ever would but that’s not a bad thing if the numbers are the ones talking. Frankly she’s the only one who he’d trust to run the company anyways. Anyone else would absolutely ruin all his work.

“See,” Stephen says. “You’re wrong.”

“You asked a business owner- anyone else would agree with me,” Wong says in his own defense.

“Uh, pretty sure the poor people in this country would disagree mostly because they have rent to pay,” Tony points out.

“What would you know about poverty?” Wong counters.

Point, sort of. “Not more than you, the poor man who’s somehow not dead. Is it magic? Also Rhodey grew up on the lower end of middle class and informed me that no, bananas do not cost fifteen dollars each, that’s ridiculous.” He did have a very good laugh over it though, even if Tony so resents that. Its not like school ever taught him that, and he knows school doesn’t teach the poor kids that either because he’s asked.

Stephen and Wong stare at Tony for a moment, then each other. “You know what, forget the argument over money we need to combine our efforts to defeat this evil because _what_? How can you be so misinformed?” Stephen asks, shaking his head at Tony.

He sighs, “I was like thirteen, cut me some slack,” he mumbles.

“At thirteen I definitely knew bananas did not cost fifteen dollars,” Wong says because he’s horrible and Tony takes back ever liking him as a person.

“I’m sure you had ridiculous childhood opinions,” Tony says in his own defense. “I know Stephen thought magic was real and I realize my mistake now but you know what, still a stupid opinion when you were five.”

Wong frowns, “all five year olds believe in magic, did you not?” he asks. Tony sighs because no, Howard never let him have that particular childhood phase. What a prick.

*

Tony looks over the morning paper mostly because it’s an annoying habit he’s picked up from Wong and Stephen. Both preferred the paper to any digital equivalent and honestly Tony thinks they’re both freaks but it _is_ right there so he reads it. Wong, who has barely missed the opportunity to snag the paper before Tony got to it, frowns. “Adoption?” he asks, looking at the front page. Tony had ignored that mostly because he’d seen Steve’s face in the picture and decided it wasn’t worth his time and skipped right to the business section but now he goes back. The article loudly proclaims that good old Cap wants to adopt a kid.

In the background of the second picture Bucky doesn’t look near as certain about this decision as Steve does and Tony feels a small twinge of feeling for him. Yeah, Steve has a habit of steamrolling people and not necessarily on purpose but really it’s the kid Tony feels for the most. The kid has the least amount of control over the situation. He hopes Steve and Bucky are sure about this because a child is a whole human life to consider and if they don’t do it right that kid suffers potentially for life. And then you have to factor in all the complications of being a part time super hero into your parenting style. He knows because he’s worked out the logistics himself, remnants of the disastrous relationship he had with Pepper post Steve that thankfully worked out fine as soon as they realized it was the romance thing that screwed them all up.

He hasn’t brought kids up to Stephen but he doesn’t really think kids are Stephen’s kind of thing. Besides, maybe its better he goes without. Sure he might want a tiny him or two running around but he is getting pretty old and he does have that pesky superhero thing on the side so its probably for the best that he remains childless.

“Guess so,” Tony mumbles, flipping back to the section he cares more about.

“Guess what?” Stephen asks, leaning down to kiss Tony. Yet another thing he never expected to be part of his morning routine but its not at all unwelcome. Its nice to have a set pattern, to know you have something to go back to. Maybe its because he’s older or maybe its because when he was younger he had been a level of stupid that only existed on movie screens, but he appreciates routine more than he ever has before.

“What?” Tony asks, looking up at Stephen.

He frowns, “what?”

“You said ‘guess what?’ so what is it?” he asks and Stephen sighs.

“You said ‘guess so’ and I was responding to that but I can see how that got confusing,” he says.

Tony snorts and shakes his head while Wong fields the question. “Looks like Steve and Bucky are adopting a child.” He gestures to the news paper and Tony lets out an annoyed sigh as he tilts it so Stephen can read the article title.

“Is Barnes even fit to raise a kid? Didn’t his trial _just_ end?” Stephen asks, frowning. “Why the hell would they chose now, it’s the worst time.”

Objectively that probably would have been after Tony tried to, you know, murder him a little bit, but he leaves that alone. “Don’t know and don’t really care. Wong made your disgusting tea if you want any of that,” he adds, earning a wrinkled nose from Stephen.

“Its no more disgusting than coffee, Tony. And for the record I think this adoption thing is stupid. How will they even raise a kid being superheroes?” he asks.

“Theoretically a nanny, preferably a super powered one with good recommendations,” Tony says without much pause.

Stephen turns a little, head tilted, “have you thought about this?” he asks.

Tony considers denying it but what point is there in that? “Yeah. Kind of want kids but you make a good point, it would be a hassle.”

“Not if both people are much smarter than Bucky and Steve and also aren’t living off someone else’s dime, _Wong_ ,” he says, giving the aforementioned man a _look_. Wong shrugs unapologetically though he technically pays rent in protection of the sanctum and all its artifacts.

“You want kids?” Tony asks because he really did not take Stephen for the kid type.

He shrugs, “of course, I always thought it’d be selfish to deprive the world of the potential of another me,” he says and Tony and Wong exchange a look before bursting out laughing.

“That’s the most Stephen thing I’ve ever heard him say,” Wong says.

“Does it out do that time he waxed poetic about genius, heroics, and bravery and we thought he was talking about me only to find out he was talking about himself when he ended off his epic with ‘oh yeah, and you too’?” Tony asks. Because that had been hilarious. Rhodey hadn’t been impressed- he still thinks Tony can do better- but Tony loves Stephen personality flaws and all. He finds his arrogance sort of endearing in a weird, Stephen kind of way. Pepper told him he was basically dating himself, but the version that came in Asian wizard. She also approves probably because she’s less protective than Rhodey and clearly picked up on Tony’s happiness. Rhodey will come around.

Wong nods, “yes, unequivocally _yes_.”

“Is this going to end in a kid or not?” Stephen asks, annoyed that they’re criticizing his personality flaws again.

*

Pepper shakes her head, “no, this is insanity,” she tells him.

“Is not- I actually put a lot of thought into this and I think you would make a great surrogate. We already have rapport, you don’t want kids and once described pregnancy as a horror movie happening inside you- that sounds bad but the point is that you won’t get attached. Plus you’re smart, accomplished, compassionate, and like a thousand other things that are all good qualities. Even your bad qualities are pretty good- you might be a bit of a tight ass but it means you meet deadlines and fulfill your commitments so that’s not even a minus.” Stephen had agreed too though it had become a battle of Christine over Pepper and Christine told Stephen he’d rather die than bring his potential spawn onto this planet so Pepper won.

“I wasn’t talking about that, you have a _birthing plan_?” she asks, shaking the rather large binder he had handed her with all the details.

“I thought you’d appreciate the organization?” he asks more than states. “Also you’re not a super villain, or have any potential to be a super villain. Super big plus in my line of work.”

She sighs, “and if you die?” she asks.

“Worst come to worst Stephen can turn back time and unkill me,” he says.

“And if _Stephen_ dies?” she asks.

“Wong can turn back time and unkill him,” Tony says.

“If Wong _and_ Stephen die?”

“Then we’re fucked and I either die also and leave the kid an orphan or live- but Rhodey will make a fantastic god parent and so will Christine. So there you have it, if we all die it works out.” Except maybe for them but they can hope they either die of natural causes or die when the kid is too young to remember and doesn’t have to grieve, thereby bypassing a lifetime of horrific psychological problems that lead to self destructive and reckless tendencies like Tony.

Pepper considers the binder for a moment. “God, I can’t believe I’m considering this. You know what, if men had to give birth it would be the plot to every horror movie ever,” she says.

Tony nods, “probably not wrong- men are pussies.”

Pepper shakes her head, “how did vaginas get equated with weakness? A whole human can come out of one but what’s a pair of testicles to? You sit funny and you hurt them.”

Tony is mad that she’s not really wrong about that. “Also fair. So what do you say?”

“I maintain that pregnancy is a horror movie but after this I better beat Rhodey out for best friend. He isn’t providing you progeny,” she says and Tony laughs.

“Thank you, Pepper,” he says genuinely.

“I hope you know I’m only doing this because of this binder. It’s a thing of beauty and if you don’t get me all six years of paperwork you owe me to my desk by Monday I will deny you my uterus,” she says and Tony groans.

“Should have seen that coming,” he mumbles.

“Probably,” she agrees, “no get to your paperwork.”

It isn’t until he’s gotten home that he realizes that he’s only a few months behind, thank god, but doing it all still makes him want to crawl in a hole and die.

*

Tony is looking at baby names and text fighting with Stephen over using _his_ name because Tony is not naming his kid after his ex when Bucky finds him, not that he notices at first. He’s too busy pointing out that yeah, he might have jumped Steve to Stephen, the clearly superior Stephen of the two even if he has the stupider spelling, but he’s so not naming his kid that. Stephen is whining and crying about family names and Wong somehow made the conversation a group chat to suggest naming the child after him. Stephen and Tony both nix that on account of the kid being likely to be bullied for having a name like ‘Wong’ in American schools. Kids are cruel. And also a little racist but mostly he and Stephen hate the name Wong and don’t want to tell Wong that.

“Hey,” a voice says softly and Tony jumps, whirling around to find Bucky standing there looking pretty haggard.

He must looks particularly shitty or maybe its because he’s in such a good mood but Tony feels bad for the guy. “Hey Barnes, what the hell did you fight lately? Nothing deadly trying to end the world, hopefully,” he says. Though its quite likely he would have heard about it if that were the case.

Bucky lets out a long sigh and takes Tony’s positive response as an invitation because he ventures closer, throwing himself down on the floor beside Tony’s window seat in front of that weird sanctum symbol thing. “The only thing I fought lately is Steve. I swear he’s gone nuts,” he says and Tony raises an eyebrow.

“This over the adoption thing? Because I’m sure you can fix that,” he says even if he’s pretty sure that’s a no go. Word is they got denied- Bucky’s unstable, which probably isn’t wrong, but he’d have to be pretty fucked up for someone to deny _Captain America_ a kid. Guy gets whatever he wants if he asks. Looking at Bucky though he doesn’t look so bad, at least not the dangerous kind of bad so he wonders what it was that did it in.

“I don’t want to fix that, I only agreed to it so he could treat someone else like a project for once,” he snaps and Tony winces hard, but not for Bucky.

“And what about the kid? Did it occur to you that this potential child would also resent being a project? Because that’s pretty shitty of you to do,” he says, unsure why he’s lecturing Bucky when he obviously needs comfort. From a guy who’s parents he killed? What surreal life is he even living right now?

Bucky lets out an annoyed sigh, “yeah, I thought of that later so spare me all that. I already got it from Steve. Its just… god, does he always live in his own head?” he asks, frustration curling around his words heavily.

Tony lets out a sharp laugh, “his head is where he’s the most comfortable.” Where most people are the most comfortable, honestly. “But my guess is that you’re annoyed with his pesky habit of refusing to come to terms with the fact that its not nineteen forty five anymore. God knows why, the future is way better,” he mumbles.

“Right? I can order food online now, I don’t even need to wear pants and I can make Steve answer the door to avoid putting the pants on. This is the _best_ and also there’s vaccines and people mostly don’t kill gay men anymore and when they do they’re properly shamed for it. Why does he want to live in the past so bad?” Bucky asks.

He sighs, “he lost everything he loved there. Nostalgia is one hell of a drug.”

“ _I_ lost everything I had there too, its no excuse to refuse to move on,” Bucky says.

“Yeah, but you also got violently tortured for the next seventy years and turned into a weapon. Steve had family, a purpose he didn’t feel conflicted about and a goal that was clearly morally correct. People looked up to him without necessarily worshipping him, and he had a close group of friends. I get why he wants all that back, what I never got is why he never let us be that for him here, in the present,” he says, maybe letting too much of his emotion show.

Bucky looks up at him. “You mean you and the Avengers?” he asks and Bucky nods. “He told me once that he didn’t want to replace any of us.”

Tony rolls his eyes, “if that were true he wouldn’t have called me Howard. Repeatedly.” It only happened a few times but still, Tony resented having his resemblance to his father brought up. Never failed to result in him not speaking to Steve for weeks at a time. The one and only time Steve told him he was being dramatic Tony told him that being mistaken for a man that repeatedly abused you for seventeen years didn’t do much to win anyone brownie points.

“Howard? You guys barely even look alike, you remind me more of your mother. Or maybe that’s just because you carry yourself the same way,” Bucky says. Its probably the only way he could have endeared himself to Tony and he blinks fast, trying to avoid the tears. All his life he’s only ever been compared to Howard and he’s never liked it. Its nice to have the tables turned for once.

“I’m Howard’s son. My guess is that I was as close a connection to his past that he could get, its why I got so pissed off about aside from the obvious. I didn’t want to be seen as a connection to a lost past, I wanted to be seen as my own damn self. For what _I_ have to offer. But he never saw that and then you came back and I got my ass kicked and also dumped. And then I got that bullshit apology letter. It was all for the better, I get that now, but it hurt like hell then.” In a very literal sense too thanks to his rib injuries.

“Steve always said you focused too much on technology,” Bucky tells him softly.

Tony snorts, “yeah, that was only my livelihood, the basis of me being a hero, and the only thing that ever brought my solace in life when everything went to shit self induced or not. He didn’t get that either.” He wonders if Steve will ever understand that that shield through that reactor was basically the same as shoving it through his heart. That probably would have caused less pain on account of him being dead honestly. And there were those brief few seconds with the shield held over his head where Tony thought he was going to put that thing through his _neck_. The fact that he ever wondered if Steve could do that shows exactly how much trust he actually had in the guy. He’d never think something like that with Stephen and he spends a lot of time hurling deadly spells at him. But not once has he ever thought that Stephen was actually aiming to kill, potential power behind those spells or no.

“You guys didn’t seem to have a good relationship,” Bucky says. “No offense,” he adds but Tony laughs.

“It was fine, for awhile. ‘Till you came back and then he was obsessed. I stopped existing after that, hell, even the Avengers stopped existing and we all got it to a point. If Rhodey died and came back I’d want to find him too, but after two years I figured you didn’t want to be found and started to wonder _why_. I thought it might be more useful to leave you methods of communication, a way to talk if you needed to but Steve didn’t want that. Natasha said you should be brought in because of the potential danger you posed to the public and I couldn’t really argue with that logic,” he says. Ever the pragmatic, Natasha, but sometimes its useful. That had been one of those times even if Tony hadn’t seen evidence of Bucky being a danger to anyone, himself included, once he left HYDRA influence. Didn’t mean it couldn’t happen though so he let Steve lead the charge and they all followed just like normal.

And then just like normal they ran into trouble, his fault, and then also like normal he and Steve disagreed, less his fault, and that resulted in a split he never meant to cause. He doubts Steve exactly meant that either, but he wonders if Steve ever saw the consequences of what he did or if he ignored all that to save Bucky. He never even considered that Bucky could be guilty and while Tony agreed that it was unlikely it could have been just as likely that Bucky used his two year head start to gather intel, information about the Accords and gained some motivation to kill the king of Wakanda. Far fetched, but no more far fetched than him falling off a cliff and being brought in by HYDRA, tortured, and turned into a living weapon.

Besides that a good scientist weighs the options, lets the evidence point to the conclusions. The only time Tony didn’t follow that logic were exactly all the times that ended in disaster. He knew what acting on impulse did so he tried to save Steve from doing what he did but no, they both ended up chasing each other down Zemo’s rabbit hole because they’re both idiots.

“I just wanted time away. To adjust. But he kept chasing so I had to move over and over again and then Zemo stuck my face on every news cast, news paper, and social media site there is so it became impossible to hide. I was lucky I managed after the helicarriers thing,” he says.

Tony nods, “they didn’t get a clear picture of your face. In hindsight that probably should have been a sign someone else was behind the whole thing but I thought maybe you were unhinged or something. Not like I could blame you for going nuts, I would.”

“You didn’t,” Bucky says softly. “When you were in my position. You built a way out.”

He looks down and Bucky is looking forward, eyes shadowed in his haunted past and regret. Tony shakes his head, “I got lucky with terrorists that were stupid an unobservant. And they never wanted to turn me into a living weapon; they wanted me to build their weapon. Not the same thing.”

“But you were tortured, and you got out. I can see how you got the name ‘Iron Man’,” Bucky murmurs.

“I got that name because the public doesn’t know the suit is a gold titanium alloy, not because I’m a stellar guy who withstood torture. Don’t be so hard on yourself, you couldn’t help what you did and trust me from me that’s one hell of an admission from me. It’d be easier to blame you for my parents but you’re more like the tool that was used to do it, not the actual murderer. Sorry for trying to kill you that one time.” Even if he spent a long time wanting to kill him after that too but he had a lot of resentment, years of it topped with the knowledge that Bucky killed his parents and Steve kept quiet about it, so it sort of blew up. He’d probably blame himself more if Wong, the most level headed person Tony knows aside from Rhodey and Pepper, pointed out that no human being could ever process a tragedy that big in a tiny amount of time. He had admitted he’d react the same way and Stephen said he wouldn’t have even waited until the end of the video. But then Stephen has questionable impulses sometimes.

“I deserved it,” Bucky says, “still do. Lot of people would still be alive if it wasn’t for me. I killed JFK.”

Tony looks back down at him and feels like a real big asshole for laughing, though Bucky can’t have predicted how absurd that statement was. “Guess the conspiracy theorists were right about that one. Seriously though, JFK has been dead since forever, feeling bad about killing him isn’t going to unshoot him. Fantastic work by the way, you really kept people guessing.”

“You are such an asshole,” Bucky says but he’s smiling a little so there’s that at least.

*

Steve tracks Bucky down pretty easily to the sanctum- he can’t believe magic is actually real let alone the fact that he’s actually dreading having a conversation with a wizard of all things. But here he is and he should talk to Bucky. If he’s honest he’s mostly here out of obligation but it feels right to at least try. When the door is opened though its by Tony holding, of all things, a baby. It takes a moment for his presence to sink in and Steve can see that Tony is sleep deprived, which explains the reaction time, but once he realizes he doesn’t look happy. “What do you want?” he asks in a tone that Steve is sure was supposed to be sharp, but it doesn’t quite make it. Too tired, Steve guesses.

“Is um, is Bucky here?” he asks.

Tony rolls his eyes and steps back. The baby squeaks a little, slightly unhappy with the turn of events and Tony carefully shushes it, making small cooing noises that are… well, adorable. For a moment Steve sees the snapshot of a life with Tony, one with a child that Tony will certainly make bad choices with because its Tony and obviously he’d do something crazy like buy fifteen bouncy castles for the kid. And he’d have to rein it in even if he finds it endearing that Tony always manages to go so far beyond what’s needed. The child would probably grow up spoiled, but with a good mix of his and Tony’s traits and would probably get into a lot of trouble but that’s alright.

“Hey, earth to asshole. Bucky’s over there,” Tony tells him, causing him to blink out of his brief trip to an alternate reality. He gives the baby a final look and Tony turns away from him a little. “Get your own, Pepper worked hard to cook this one up for me and I don’t want her tainted by your shitty personality. Its bad enough that she’s got half of me in there.”

A small sigh draws Steve’s attention away from Tony’s rant and Bucky stands there looking exhausted and like he’s dreading this conversation already. Steve can feel his own tiredness pulling at him but he sets it aside. He can make this work. He has to make this work. Bucky walks over, pausing by Tony for a moment and the baby coos, reaching a chubby little arm up towards Bucky and he smiles. Tony lets out a small laugh, “you have no idea how pissed Stephen is that she likes you better than him.”

Bucky smiles a little, “that’s because I’m cuter,” he says and Tony snorts.

“That is one hundred percent not true. Now go deal with this, I’m bored of my baggage sitting in the doorway,” he says, sparing Steve one last hostile glance before walking away.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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